Relief hit me so hard I nearly sagged forward.
“But,” he continued, his eyes flicking pointedly to the sheet clenched in my fists. “As you are no doubt well aware, youarenaked.”
I let out a mortified sound and covered my face with my hands.
“Why,” I groaned. “Why am I naked?”
“Because you insisted,” he said.
I peeked at him through my fingers and saw the grin.
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did,” he replied. “With great enthusiasm.”
“Oh no,”I whispered, horror dawning. “No no no.”
He leaned closer, inspecting my attempt at hiding as if it were fascinating.
“Is that helping?”
I dropped my hands long enough to glare at him.
“No.” That earned me a chuckle, and he leaned back, giving me a little more space.
“I assure you,” he said, “I was the perfect gentleman.”
“If you were the perfect gentleman,” I shot back weakly, “you would have stopped me from taking my clothes off.”
He hummed thoughtfully.
“Possibly. But attempting to wrestle you onto the bed and physically restrain you may have appeared far less gentlemanly than allowing you to undress yourself.” The image that came to mind did absolutely nothing to cool my overheating face.
“You might have a point there,” I muttered, conceding.
“I’m glad you agree,” he said with a slight nod. I swallowed, then glanced at the arm he had wrapped around me only moments earlier.
“And the… waking up like that.”
He sighed, the sound surprisingly gentle.
“You were frightened,” he said.
“You kept waking, searching for something. Someone. In the end, I held you. After that, you slept well.” The tightness in my chest eased, replaced by something else. I was grateful for him and the way he had been so caring, so gentle with me.
“Oh,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And for last night…” I added hesitantly. “…When saving me. I don’t know if I thanked you.”
His mouth curved. “You were… difficult to settle.”
I winced at the embarrassing thought.
“I am almost afraid to ask, but here it goes… what did I do?”
“You insisted on returning the favor,” he said,
